The field of the disclosure relates generally to generating production operating systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for use in generating read-only production operating systems for target workstations.
Workstations are generally used during production to program various types of products. Specifically, for example, workstations may be used to program integrated circuits, such as a programmable logic device (PLD), programmable gate array (PGA), microcontroller, etc. Workstations often include generic operating system and programming tool applications, as well as other applications such as anti-virus applications. Workstations may be connected to a network, such as the Internet, or separate from a network.
In various production environments, workstations include generic operating systems that include resources not used by the workstation in performing its function as a production programmer. The extraneous resources allocate space within the memory of the workstation that is essentially unused. The unused memory results in an attack space for unwanted applications, such as, for example, virus applications and/or malware applications. As a result, the workstations can unknowingly provide a platform for the unwanted applications to spread to the product being programmed by the workstation and/or other devices connected to the workstations.